American pool checkers differs from the common parlor game in that players
can jump pieces in a backward or forward direction. Other differences include
variations on how pieces are "kinged."

Players contend that pool checkers makes for a more exciting game, calling
for heightened creativity and imagination.

"You have to have such foresight to look ahead; it's like a puzzle that you
put together in your mind before you lay it out on the board," tournament
director Wayne Lockheart, 56, said.

Some games can last up to two hours. Ion Dosca, of Moldova, "once sat there
for 45 minutes playing the whole game in his mind" said Aaron "Stony Burke"
Johnson, 66, president of the Homan Square Pool Checkers & Chess Club of Chicago

"It's quite a beauty. On the surface it looks simple, but American pool
checkers is even more sophisticated and complex than chess, which is given more
status," Lockheart said.

Players compare the game to life.

"You have to be patient and not get excited," Lockheart said. "Checkers
teaches you that."